


Overland

by Musica



Category: Aion (Video Game)
Genre: Roleplay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 10:23:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 4,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20062462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musica/pseuds/Musica
Summary: The book was slim, the cover nondescript. Inside, the writing was neat and, if one looked closely enough, had the occasional page missing from the glue. The spine held a single red feather.This piece belongs to a long series of in-game interactions as a journal written under guise of a faerie tale whilst recounting several roleplays and characters. Summary of lore and two years' worth of roleplays given; actual RP posts assembled in Know No Bounds.





	1. Dedication

**Author's Note:**

> Context for those who are curious and don't want to read two years' worth of roleplay:
> 
> This journal is written by Rinwilya Brightwing of House Freedom, the first ascended Elyos of Lord Vaizel's bloodline in a thousand years. The Court of Light forced her to follow in his footsteps as a Ranger thinking she would be an exceptional daeva against the Asmodians. When she proved to be a pacifist, they arranged a marriage thinking at least they could continue the bloodline. Refusing to be anyone's puppet or broodmare, Rin ran away to Asmodae with a crafted disguise. She kept to the outskirts of towns, using her skills to eke out a modest living as she learned the language and customs of her supposed enemies. 
> 
> Poor luck struck and she was discovered by Aezrel, an Asmodian noble playboy with a penchant for ill-accepted things, and his longtime lover Jianna, an Elyos officer with a charm for disguise. Aezrel captured the ranger with the intent to Vanish her but noted the disguise coming undone. Rin speaks honestly as to her cause, hoping to either be spared or truly Vanished since being sent back to Sanctum was the worse fate. Jianna and Aezrel choose to spare her with the latter providing a contact in the hopes for sexual conquest. Despite nearly getting murdered, Rin sought Aezrel out for a charm like Jianna's, standing her ground against his advances. 
> 
> Her earnest offer to help rescue Aezrel's brother was a turning point, the chanter and ranger forming something that danced along the lines of friendship and eventual courtship. They were ever careful to keep others at arm's length. Even with isolating themselves, the two found happiness and eloped. Close friends and family would, however, note strange little details. J'nanin, Aezrel's effective sister-in-law and best friend, was with the ranger when an Elyos spirit master should attack. Rin reacted to defend her friend only for the charm to be dispelled, the cleric seeing the ranger for what she was. The offending Elyos captured Rin as a deserter and left J'nanin to wrestle with the revelation.
> 
> The Court of Light welcomed Rinwilya back to the capitol with shackles and slander, spreading rumor that she was mentally abused by the Asmodians while they kept her away from public eye. Salems, her former brigade general and Ariel's choice for the arranged marriage, was cruel and unyielding. Documents were forged for her consent to marriage in which she was abused and raped. Through it all, Rin managed to write a journal with an Alice in Wonderland veneer as a discreet love letter and farewell to Aezrel, with whom she spoke often of fae tales. The journal, Overland, was smuggled to Asmodae to a broken chanter.

* * *

_To my **B**lack **R**abbit, my heart will always know **F**reedom._

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

** _T_ ** _he sunlight glittered over the treetops, casting darkness in strange patterns over the grounds of the garden. Alysson entertained herself by trying to touch only the dark patches, skirts aflutter as she danced through the space. It was a welcome distraction from the mundane, her chosen escape from a stifling life of expectation. Heels clicking on the stone pathway, green eyes peered up, the girl stilling as she spied a gate set into the hedge. “Oh, hello,” she spoke to it, “have you always been here?” The gate did not answer. Approaching the black iron, Alysson saw that the gate was unlocked; beyond it was an old path riddled with roots and upheaved stone, trees so close together that their branches were scribbled together. She took a steeling breath, unlatching the gate and allowing the door to swing forward. _

_“The longer I stand here, the longer I am scared,” she said to no one. Nerves aflutter and skirts in hand, she set out on the forgotten path. Every noise and shift of shadow sent her heart askipping, but nothing ever sprang from the darkness. Confidence building with each step, Alysson began to enjoy her secret adventure. “They shan’t ever find me here,” she said quietly, smiling. A rustle of the leaves heralded a blur, the girl crying out with surprise, hand over heart as she came across a black creature with a monstrous shadow. “You frightened me, good sir,” she said with a laugh upon recognizing the creature as a black rabbit, his suit neatly pressed._

_“I frightened you?” he asked, standing tall on his hind limbs, his shadow the normal shape akin to rabbits. _

_“Not apurpose, I am sure,” Alysson replied. “My imagination has run away with me, and for the nonce I saw a shadow far larger than yourself.”_

_“The shadow is mine and mine alone and none other than myself, child. Who are you?” the Black Rabbit asked, smoothing his vest._

_“I am Alice,” she heard herself say, unsure why she suddenly felt the need to be someone different, that withholding her full name would be a shield in this strange garden.”And who might you be?”_

_“I am the Black Rabbit,” he named himself. “Where are you from, Little Alice?” for he could see she did not belong there._

_“From over yonder,” and she turned to point back along the path, voice trailing off as she saw that it was obscured, the gate and her sunlit garden far from view._

_“From Underland?” he asked, dark eyes glittering._

_“Underland?” she questioned._

_“Yes, Underland lies that way. This is Overland. Why have you come all this way, Little Alice?” Black Rabbit asked, one paw pulling forth a silver pocket watch and clicking it open._

_“Why, for adventure. Why have you come all this way, Black Rabbit?”_

_“I have always been here,” he replied, closing the watch. “I have been here since before it was Overland.”_

_“Why do you have a pocket watch? Are you often late to things?” Alysson asked in jest._

_“I am fashionably late,” he replies smoothly, “which is to say, on time. Perhaps you are the one who is late.”_

_“I am not late,” she replies, mildly offended. “I am perfectly where I wish to be at all times.”_

_The rabbit looked at her, considering, then smiled. “And where do you wish to be?”_

_“At the moment,” and she stood tall, “Overland.”_

_He smiled all the more. “Then carry on, as you were, Little Alice,” and he turned to go._

_“Where are you going?”_

_“Why, on an adventure,” he replied before bounding away, leaving the girl alone. Except she did not want to be alone anymore and followed after him to no avail. _


	3. Chapter 3

** _S_ ** _he followed as best she could, all chance of finding her way back to the path diminishing with every footfall. Worry starts to set in again, the girl turning around and around as she tried to regain her bearings. Alice stilled as she heard a growl, turning to face behind her._

_“Why, hello there,” she greeted nervously, two golden orbs peering at her from the bushes._

_“We are afraid, yesno?” it growled again, stepping out from its hiding place to reveal ghostly white fur and large fangs. _

_“T’would be a lie to say I wasn’t, but I would rather not be,” Alice told the White Wolf. _

_He grinned at her, revealing sharp, white teeth. “What are you doing here, little girl?”_

_“I am on an adventure.”_

_“Oh? From somewhere other than Overland, yes?” The girl nodded. “And why have you come from Otherland?”_

_“Curiosity,” Alice replies managing to level her voice._

_“The girl would be a kitter, yesno?” the White Wolf asked, walking slowly around her._

_“I am no kitter,” Alice corrected him, still wary as the creature came closer still. _

_“You say you are curious. Kitters are curious, so it is said. A kitter stands before me, yes?” The Wolf came to a stop before her, his face level with hers. _

_“Pray tell,” and Alice managed to look him in the eyes despite her misgivings, “What would a wolf desire of a kitter?”_

_His lips pulled back to reveal a fanged smile. “Perhaps the kitter should stay and discover the answer for herself, to satisfy her curiosity, yes?”_

_“Perhaps I just might,” the girl offering a good show of courage she did not truly feel, but it satisfied the Wolf. _

_“A kitter, perhaps, or a Lioness. Time will tell, girl of Otherland,” and the White Wolf prowled away._


	4. Chapter 4

** _U_ ** _nsure if she should follow, she watched until she could see his shape no more. The girl carried on her adventure, unsure of whence she’d come or the creatures she had met. The woods proved to offer little sense of direction at all, the sun never changing and no distinctive landmarks in sight. Tired, Alysson came to a stop and glanced about in every direction. Curiously, she spotted a book nestled in the leaves. Heels clicking as she went to retrieve it, she noticed a broad frame sitting just on the other side of a large tree, piles of books all around and blending with the leaves. Indeed, the trees themselves were filled with books and pages decorated the branches._

_“Why, hello there,” she called to him, but the dark figure was engrossed in his book. “Merry meet,” Alysson tried again._

_The Black Knight, for he was wearing a gleaming armor, glanced up at her. “Well met,” and he resumed reading._

_“I believe you lost this?” she chanced, offering the book she had found._

_“Why, thank you,” and it was only as his claws took the book gently that he seemed to really look at her. “Are you lost?”_

_“Yes and no,” the girl replied._

_“How can one be both lost and not lost?” the Knight queried._

_“Well, as it were, I am on an adventure. I left my house this morning and found my way here, and I am still enjoying my adventure, but I have no sense of where I have been if I should ever desire to go home. If I stay here, then I cannot get any more lost, but then the adventure does not happen. If I continue to adventure, then I may very well become more lost.”_

_“Do you like where you have come from?”_

_A strange question, the girl pausing. “I wanted to say yes, but I suppose the answer is no.”_

_“Then there is no reason to be lost,” he concludes, going back to his book._

_“I suppose so,” Alysson a little confused about whether or not that is true. “What are you reading, good sir?”_

_“I am reading about fantastic beasts and where to find them, and how to capture them. Politely,” he adds.”Tell me, do you think a captured beast will feel unduly kept if it is treated well?”_

_“Pardon?” The idea of politely capturing a beast rather peculiar.”I daresay that depends on both opinions, of the beast and the tamer.”_

_“Both opinions?”_

_“Why, of course, because what the tamer thinks is all well and good may not be just so to the beast. And should the beast be happy but the tamer no longer wanting to keep it, what then? If the beast is happy, why for was there ever a need to capture it in the first place?”_

_He pauses in his reading, pondering over that. “So you would attest that there are two truths to the same event.”_

_“That I would, indeed,” for Alysson felt sure of her opinion._

_The Black Knight sat quietly for a time. “There is a Cheshire about Overland, and I rather seek to have her companionship, but she is a devious one and for all my efforts I have been unable to convince her to stay.”_

_“And you are hoping to find an answer among all these books?” It seemed a rather strange thing to find in a book. _

_“I am hoping to better understand what it is she wants that I might make her happy.”_

_“Is your company not enough?”_

_“My company is not enough to make her stay.”_

_“But it is enough to make her return?” Alysson asked._

_“Yes,” the Knight seeming thoughtful._

_“Then perhaps you need not worry so much, if she is already seeking your company. Cats go where is their wont, but if she always returns, then perhaps you already have that which you seek.”_

_“Perhaps. Do you have a companion?” and she could feel his gaze through the visor._

_“No, I do not,” Alysson admitted, “though I have met a rather curious Rabbit and Wolf on my adventure.”_

_“Then perhaps if you keep on, you might find yourself a companion,” and the Knight went back to reading_

_She smiled and fluffed her skirts. “I suppose I shall find out in good time. Merry part, and luck in your endeavor,” the girl resuming her adventure with little care if she became more lost._


	5. Chapter 5

** _A_ ** _fter much wandering, Alysson happened upon a sudden clearing set with table and plush chairs, biscuits and tea, and who would be sitting there but the Black Rabbit and a fellow White Rabbit. Neither indicated they had seen her though both rabbits canted their ears askew as the girl approached. _

_“How fares your adventure?” the Black Rabbit asked, his dark eyes turning to her._

_“Well enough, I suppose,” replied she, “but I am dreadfully tired from all of this walking now and a respite seems quite welcome.” _

_“But you have only just begun,” the Black Rabbit declared._

_“An adventure? What manner of sorts?” the White one asked, golden eyes brimming with intrigue._

_“Only just begun? But I have been walking for the better part of a day, I am sure. May I partake of you tea party?” her manners dictating that she be invited first._

_“Of course,” said the Black one, checking the time._

_“Who are you? Where are you from? Which tea would you care for?” the White asked all at once, tilting his head to either side with each question._

_Alysson had just managed to gather her skirts to sit. “Why, I am Alice from Otherland. I mean, Underland.” She glanced at the teacup and saw that it was a dark blue._

_“Would you like red, ochre, green, blue, or mauve?” the White rabbit pointing enthusiastically at various seats about their table, leaving Alysson rather confused at the colors instead of flavors._

_“Is one perhaps better than the others?” she asked, unsure._

_“No, they are all the same,” the White answered happily, and Alysson was confused all the more. “Why have you come to Overland?” he asked, as if the matter of tea had been resolved, fussing with his overcoat though he did not wear the sleeves at all._

_“Well, I suppose, I was merely playing in the garden when I spied a gate that had not been there before,” she took up the cup and sipped at it, noting the flavor and trying to figure it. “I do not suppose I might try the others?”_

_Quickly the Rabbits gathered the other colors for her and Alysson was sipping them all, noting no difference at all._

_“And is it rare, for there to be a gate in your garden?” the Black Rabbit inquired._

_“Yes and no. There have always been gates but this one was never there before and I am so certain of it.”_

_“How are you certain of it?” the White asked, somehow finding teas of other colors that Alysson couldn’t tell which cups she had sampled._

_“I am quite certain that I have looked there before and seen no gate at all.”_

_“And yet there was one now. Have the other gates that you are certain of gone away or moved, perhaps?”_

_“I have never heard of a gate moving before.”_

_“But gates move all the time, if they choose,” the White declaring so steadfast that she had not the heart to tell him that gates were wont to stay where they were put. _

_“Well, I suppose it does not matter much as I do not think I shall be going back,” Alysson mused aloud._

_“Oh? Why is that?” the Black asked, sipping his teacup._

_“Why, it is so full of rules and such and I am not allowed any adventure at all. Quite dreary, if I do say so, and I find I much rather like it here in Overland.”_

_She received two smiles, and Alysson could not say why they were different when given on similar faces. _

_All a sudden, the White’s ears wiggled and he stood up, fixing the coat about his shoulders. “I must be going.” He did the littlest bow and scurried off before Alysson could so much as gather her skirts to curtsy to him. _

_“He is wont to do that,” the Black Rabbit informed her casually, checking his watch again._

_“Must you be going, as well?”_

_“Soon,” and there was no indication for what thought was between his ears._

_Alysson sipped her blue tea, thinking. “I am curious to stay in Overland, but I am admittedly quite so very different when I do not wish to be.”_

_The Black got a curious glint in his eye, one ear canting to one side. “Perhaps if you stay a while yet, you may not be so different at all.”_

_“Oh? Is there some manner of trick?” Alysson finding his statement rather curious._

_“Perhaps,” was all the Rabbit said._

_“Will you instruct me, then?”_

_“No.”_

_A blink, the girl confused. “But how am I to be the same if you do not teach me? Do you wish for me to depart back to Underland?” hurt slipping in that he would want for her to leave._

_His nose wiggled once. “That depends entirely on what manner of creature you are, Little Alice.”_

_“What manner of creature am I?” Alysson taken aback by the question. “Why, I am me, just as you are you.”_

_He smiled again, checking the time before smoothing his vest. “You are you, yes, but will you be the you of yesterday, tomorrow?”_

_She was about to reply when she gave it a moment’s thought. “I suppose I do not know.”_

_Another smile. “Then I suppose you should be on your way, and do be wary of any Flowers. They are prone to poor manners and bawdy suggestions.”_


	6. Chapter 6

** _A_ ** _nd so it was that the Black Rabbit parted from her again, leaving Alysson with the remnants of the colorful tea party. There were a handful of cookies on a platter that she stuffed in her pockets, nibbling on them as she continued to explore Overland. Without a guide, the little lady found herself heading into darker territories. Her shoes were lost along the way and her hair in tangles from reaching branches. Alas, the tea and cookies could only last so long and Alice found herself parched and hungry and exhausted. Sitting down by the base of a tree, she began to lull unaware of the Grimwood’s lullaby. Two golden orbs glinted in the darkness set in a pale face. A dark grin from the Wolf as he approached, thinking himself lucky until he noticed a void expression._

_“A kitter is unafraid?” asked he, padding forward._

_Alysson gave little reaction, hardly registering the fangs gleaming in the moonlight._

_“A kitter’s curiosity has bested her, yes?” and he took her by the hem of her dress, carefully relocating her to a safer forest._

_When Alysson awoke, for how else she could describe it, it was to her surprise to see the White Wolf at her feet, gnawing on a bone. Two golden orbs gazed at her and she knew fear._

_“Where am I?” she asked, unable to find the steady voice she had last they spoke._

_“Safer forest,” the reply, and she worried at watching him crunch at his bone._

_“How did I get here?”_

_“I dragged you,” the Wolf offering this casually. “A kitter’s curiosity led her to the Grimwood where she would be unknowing prey.”_

_A blink, Alysson fixing her skirts and finding teeth marks there. “You saved me? Why?” for why should a predator do such a thing?_

_He stopped working at his treat to instead look upon her. “It is a dark end to your adventure.”_

_“But…why deny yourself an easy meal?” the girl wincing even as she begged the question._

_Her lips pulled back in a gleaming smile. “There is no fun when the prey is unaware.”_

_“And…you have been waiting for me to wake?”_

_“Yes and no,” the bone forgotten in his amusement. “Has the Lioness lost her courage?”_

_“T’would be a lie to say she has not, but mayhaps she will find it,” Alysson unsure of his intentions. _

_“Best if she would find it soon,” was all he said, the wolf standing up and padding away_

_ Shaken and unsure, the lady got to her feet, unsure of where to go. She thought of how her adventure had begun, that the unknown had been inviting. Of the Black Knight and her want to adventure even if it meant never seeing Underland again. “I suppose there is little else to do but to keep on,” she told herself and wandered in no direction in particular._


	7. Chapter 7

** _I_ ** _t was only after some time that she concluded that the White Wolf had not followed her, though sudden noises would send her heart afluttering. She had yet to figure any sense of time in Overland for the sun was the same as ever. Her dress was far from the pristine white it once had been, turning more wild by the hour as the girl foraged for berries and mushrooms, unable to concern herself for the thought of poison. Little Alysson carried on with her adventure, slowly becoming accustomed to the lay of the land and the creatures therein. She spied the Black Knight again sometime later with a red cat on his shoulder, a grinning beast she could only presume to be his desired Cheshire. A tiny Dormouse had made herself known at one point, exclaiming underfoot over Alice’s state of dress. The White Rabbit came and went, usually in tow with the Black Rabbit as they seemed to have tea parties set up in multiple clearings throughout Overland. On rare occasion, she would spy either a Great Hawk or a Dark Horse, instinct compelling her to keep a wide berth. And so her days continued, the little lady becoming increasingly more at ease though always aware she was an Other. It was upon this that the Black Rabbit touched, curious as to her quietude one afternoon tea._

_“It is as I said before. The Alice of yesterday is not the Alice of today, nor of tomorrow. The lady I speak with now is so very different from the one I first met,” his paws returning the watch to its pocket._

_“Indeed, that is all well and good, but I am still very much from Underland,” her tone displeased, the girl sipping from a red cup._

_“And you have no wish to return there?”_

_“Of course not,” Alice replied readily. “I was stifled, a caged bird, a marionette. Overland provides me with freedom. Tis an irony, truly.”_

_His nose wiggled once, one ear canting to the side. “Then do not return.” She turned to look upon him because she had no intent to go anywhere else, surely he knew? “Remain with me, as my companion,” his black eyes intent on her face._

_All at once, the sense of Other was diminished, Alice sensing she might cry with relief and joy and nodding in the affirmative. She did cry when he presented her with a token, a gesture that she took to mean that he had thought upon this matter previously._

_And thus Alice traveled with the Black Rabbit. Life in Overland became a comfort with friends such as the White Rabbit and the Black Knight. Despite his threat, the White Wolf appeared but once more and, after noting the girl as the Black Rabbit’s companion, did not appear again and was only present in passing thought. The Rabbits both presented her with varied gifts, and Alice knew happiness and comfort both. Less and less did Alice muse on Underland and the ones she left behind, focused instead on adventuring, still cautious as it was. The White often came laden with edibles from afar, the Black offering trinkets to suit her desires. The Black Knight would provide questions when his frame was not encased by books, and the Cheshire would come by from time to time to satisfy a deep curiosity. _


	8. Chapter 8

** _I_ ** _t was on one adventure with the Cheshire perched upon one shoulder that a forgotten nightmare came to the fore. _ _Along her path, there came a crash, and beyond the trees stood the White Knight, his face alight upon finding Alice. “My lady,” he called, “you have been lost and now you are found!” The Cheshire fled her perch, unsure what manner of creature Alice was, offering wide eyes._

_“I am not lost,” Alice insisted. “I am precisely where I wish to be.”_

_“But my lady, this is not Underland, where we belong. Foul creatures live here. It is not safe.”_

_“I do not wish to leave,” she insisted, but the White Knight, set upon his goal, attacked the Cheshire until the cat vanished, stripes and all. _

_With naught else to delay the knight, he picked up the girl and seemingly knew his way back through Overland. So caught up with his sudden appearance, Alice had no moment’s thought to spare that he knew to find her in Overland. _


	9. Chapter 9

_“_ ** _I_**___do not wish to remain here,” Alysson stated from behind the Cards. The White Knight had seen to it that she was safe and never alone for fear of what creatures might slip from Overland to hunt her. _

_“My dear, you are safe. The White Queen has seen to it that I shall protect you always,” the White Knight spoke his untruths. _

_“I need not protection, gracious as the Queen is,” Alysson insisted._

_“I fear your time in Overland has skewed your mind, child,” and the White Knight refused to trust her.”Trust in me, and all shall be right.”_

_And she knew him for falsehood._


	10. Chapter 10

** _T_ ** _he Lory came to visit one day, an old friend that had learned of Alysson’s adventure. She found the girl at the window, staring out toward the gardens with wistful sighs._

_“Alysson,” the bird called sweetly._

_“Sweet Lory, you surprise me,” Alysson offering the creature a warm smile for a true friend._

_“I see the sadness on your face and the dream in your heart.”_

_“My heart aches something fierce, but the White Knight does not listen. Would that I could fly like you.”_

_“I know not how to mend your heart, but perhaps one day we can have an adventure,” said the Lory._

_“I should like that overmuch, but the White Knight will disapprove.”_

_“Then we needs must be patient, and time our adventure when the Knight has lowered his guard,” the Lory preening a wing._

_“Then patience I shall keep.”_

_ Alice’s friend left, but she was a true friend, through and through, and sought out gifts for the girl. So it was that trinkets were left on the windowsill, and Alysson smiled that she should not be alone._


	11. Chapter 11

** _D_ ** _espite the hustle and bustle of daily life, Alysson never forgot about Overland, her thoughts taking her back there. Often, Alysson would walk through the garden with the Cards and secretly look for the gate, though it was never there. She worried after her companion and friends, her mind fashioning conversations in her absence. Surely the Black Rabbit would seek her company once more, could find his way to Underland? Did the Cheshire curse her, her last visage a betrayed and pained expression? What of the Black Knight or the White Rabbit? If only I could return, Alice oft told herself, ever hopeful._

_The White Knight worked to win his lady’s favor, but Alice knew him for false words. “I love you,” claimed he. “We are a fine match.” But the girl knew that it was not she whom he loved, but the idea of her, the idea that society dictates she follow. “Why do you walk through the garden as if you are lost?” he asked._

_“Because I am lost.”_

_“You were lost, and now you are found, dear Alysson.”_

_The girl fell silent, for she knew it moot to explain to the White Knight her thoughts. She missed Overland terribly much, something one dedicated to Underland could not fathom. Even if I cannot go back, said she, I still have my memento and he cannot take such from me. _

_Alas, one day, the White Knight approached Alice and said, “You care more for a trinket than for your own lord husband. There is a foul spell at work here that drives you from me,” and he bade her part with the ring that they could be happy together. And so she wept, consoling herself that, though he has taken the last piece of Overland, she could still see the Black Rabbit in her memories. _


	12. Chapter 12

** _D_ ** _ark was the day that the White Knight approached his lady and said, “You keep to your own rather than tend on your lord husband. Your thoughts keep you from me and I am unhappy.”_

_“I keep with my memories because they make me happy. If I part with them, too, what shall ever be left of me?” replied Alysson. _

_“Your memories smother you. Part with them that you may grow and we can be happy.” Weeping, Alysson parted with her memories, and the Alysson that was was no more, heart eternally yearning for the Black Rabbit. _


End file.
